A/N: Just to be clear, this takes place at some point in 3x18 after Caitlin is wounded and before the ending where she becomes Killer Frost. Now I like Joe, he's one of the few good/enjoyable Arrowverse characters but this has to be said.
Joe was roaming the hallway of S.T.A.R. Labs as he just left the cortex, his previous argument with Gypsy had him worked up. He needed to take a walk, burn off some steam, cool himself down. Anything that would take his mind off the heat of the moment. His thoughts were suddenly broken off as he heard a whoosh behind, turning around before he saw Wally standing in front of him. Rather than his typical joyful, outgoing behavior, his youngest son looked displeased and angry.
"Hey dad…can we talk?" Wally asked, his tone concerning his father.
"Umm, yeah, what is it?" Joe responded.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Wally suddenly blurted out.
Joe was taken back by his son's sudden outburst. "Wha…what?"
"Trying to take Kadabra on your own?" Wally demanded. "With a gun. You saw what he can do, you know what he was capable of."
"Wally, he was going to tell me who Savitar is!" Joe defended. "He was going to tell me the one thing we needed to stop him!"
"Do you honestly believe that?" Wally scoffed incredulously as Joe paused. "The moment you opened that cell door, you threw away the only leverage he had on him. He could have left immediately and he already hurt Caitlin before escaping. Gypsy isn't the reason he's out on the loose, Dad, you are. Caitlin is injured because of you. What if Kadabra had killed her? Or Cisco? Or Julian? Or you? Barry and I already have to deal with the fact that we might lose Iris, now we have to lose the rest of you too?"
"I didn't think-" Joe tried to say.
"That's right!" Wally yelled. "You didn't."
"Wally, please…" Joe pleaded. "I just wanted to help save Iris."
"So do I!" Wally retorted. "So do the rest of us! Barry has been an asshole, treating you, Caitlin, Cisco, and even me like crap, leaving all of us like a distant second to try and save Iris. I have to accept that I might not even be able to save her at all after what happened in the speed force. Do you really think that if you wanted Kadabra to tell you about Savitar that we wouldn't have stood by you?"
"What did you want me to do?"
"Call us. You could've had me, Barry, and Cisco stand by and that way, we would have stopped Kadabra before he tried anything. And what about when he was roaming S.T.A.R. Labs? Why didn't you, Cisco, or Cailtin use the panic alarm? Barry and I would've been here in seconds and we'd have Kadabra back in the pipeline."
Wally let out a sigh.
"Please, Dad," Wally pleaded. "You're better than this, you're the best of us. Act like it."
With that, Wally turned around and sped away, leaving Joe to his own thoughts as he questioned himself on his actions.
A/N: Now, to be fair, there are a lot of moments of character stupidity and inconsistency in this show (even its prime time with the earlier seasons) but 3x18 took it to a new level for me.
First off, Joe was a complete idiot for his method of going after Kadabra. I understand why he did it, he was a father who was desperate to protect his daughter. I get that. I've heard from my own mother a million times that she'd go to the end of the world for me, so it's only natural Joe would too. I don't take issue with Joe confronting Kadabra. I take issue with how he did it. If he wanted to confront Kadabra, he should've had Barry, Wally, and Cisco with him on standby. That way if Kadabra tried anything, Wally and/or Barry could've cuffed instantly or Cisco could've breached him back into a locked pipeline cell.
But no, instead, Joe decides to confront him with some meta gun. The man was literally there when Kadabra turned the bullets of his gun into water and was able to not only react to a gun blast but even teleport away from it. Yet, Joe thinks he can face him by himself. Unknown to the CW writers in S3, while Joe isn't some genius, he's not meant to have severe, intellectual impairment. You easily solve this stupid scene by having Joe keep Barry, Wally, and Cisco as backup and having Kadabra stick to his cell or just teleport far away to where Barry and Wally can't find him and Cisco can't track him. But no, let's completely forget about our conflict-ending resources/allies/abilities and stretch out this plot. Had Joe done this, Caitlin wouldn't have gotten hurt, meaning she wouldn't have become Killer Frost. So not only is Caitlin's fall from grace on Joe's hands, but so is the blood of all the people she brought harm to.
Also, another thing that annoyed me was the panic button. Joe, Cisco, and Caitlin were all in S.T.A.R. Labs when Kadabra was loose. They all have panic buttons to summon not only each other, but even Barry and Wally, neither of whom were busy with something critically important. Yet, for whatever reason, they don't think to use them and have their speedsters cuff Kadabra instantly (they literally did this earlier in the episode with Barry, did these dumbfuck writers already forget they could've done it again?). Cisco even tells Joe where Kadabra was headed to try and get Joe to stop him when he literally watched security footage of Joe failing to do so in his confrontation. What is wrong with you people? Press the panic alarm and have a speedster cuff Kadabra. It's so goddamn easy.
Last but not least, I was planning on having Barry be the one to give Joe this lecture. However, considering how much of a selfish asshole he was in the season, I figured he was the last person to give such a lecture. Plus, Wally, being as young and inexperienced as he is, giving the lecture kind of adds weight as to how stupid all of this really is. Anyway, enough ranting. Apologies. Good day to you all.
GrimesAllen08